The Mirage Casino On Las Vegas Strip To Close In JulySeminole Tribe To Open Hard Rock Resort In 2027 |
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One of Las Vegas’s first mega resorts and a former popular poker spot is set to close. Although original plans called for renovation while the property remained open, the decision has been made that The Mirage will be shuttered on July 17 as the new owners, the Seminole tribe of Florida, transition the casino into Hard Rock Las Vegas.
“We really are encouraged about not only the future of Las Vegas, but how Hard Rock and Seminole Tribe can play a role in helping to develop that and grow the market,” casino President Dan Lupo told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “But today is a tough day for a lot of people. Our priority is the wellbeing of those individuals.”
Historic Mega Resort
The property is expected to reopen in July 2027. In the meantime, about 3,300 employees are being laid off. The company is providing a resource center to help employees find jobs including the availability of transferring to other Seminole properties around the country.
Union representatives have said they are also working with employees to find new opportunities. The company is paying out about $80 million in severance payments to those let go.
The Seminoles acquired the Mirage in December 2022 for about $1 billion. Plans call for the new resort to include a guitar-shaped hotel tower, as seen at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida, as well as 25 restaurants and a 5,000-seat theater.
The Mirage ushered in the mega resort trend on the Las Vegas Strip after opening in 1989. The brainchild of casino impresario Steve Wynn, the casino was the most expensive resort ever built at the time at a price tag of $630 million.
Guests were treated to attractions that were unexpected for a casino at the time including dolphin and tiger habitats, an indoor tropical forest, a 20,000-gallon aquarium of exotic fish, and an artificial volcano that erupted nightly along the Strip for visitors passing by. The property was also home to the famed Siegfried & Roy magic show for 14 years and was also home to Cirque du Soleil’s first Las Vegas show.
Popular Poker Venue
The property also hosted many big names in the poker room and was even mentioned in the movie Rounders as “the center of the poker universe.” Poker players like Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, and others were regulars at the property in the ‘90s before the city’s bigger action shifted to properties like the Bellagio and Aria.
Negreanu took to Twitter to express his memories of the casino.
This one hits hard
I have so many nostalgic memories in the late 90’s walking into this place, hearing Steve Wynn’s voice, seeing the Tigers, and the smell is imprinted in my brain
This was poker Mecca before Bellagio opened
RIP Mirage
You will be missed https://t.co/kiNIOBz7uR— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) May 15, 2024
The poker room closed in 2020 during the pandemic and never reopened. The Seminoles haven’t announced whether a poker room would be part of the redeveloped property, but the game is a major part of the company’s other operations in Florida, so there is at least a possibility that Vegas may see another poker venue at some point.
This isn’t the only property on the Strip to close. The Tropicana was shuttered in April to make way for the new baseball stadium for the Oakland Athletics. There have been reports that Casino Royale could be imploded this year to make way for a larger venue.
The oldest casino on the Las Vegas Strip remains the Flamingo, which opened in December of 1946, followed by the Sahara, which opened in October of 1952.
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